Improvement



W. G. OLIVER. PRGDUGING LOCAL ANB STHESIA.

Patented A131219 WN: Noam: PETERS co.. PHoToMTNo., mmsnlrmcm4 u. cy

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM G. OLIVER, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT .IN APPLYING ELECTRICITY IN DENTAL OPERATIONS.

Specification forming part of Letters PatentNo. 23,697, dated April 19, 1859,

l ations; and to that end it consists in producing local anaesthesia in dental operations by the introduction to the nerves of sensation of an' electrical current without bringing the parts to be affected in direct contactawith any metallic conductor, as will be hereinafter described.

It has been customary, in dental operations, to apply a current of electricity by means of a metallic conductor held in the hand of the patient and attached'to one of the poles of a battery, the other pole being connected to the forceps or other instrument used by the operator but I am not aware of the current being so applied as not to require the insulation of the operator, nor have anyA metallic conductor in -direct connection with the parts in which ansthesa is to be produced, nor am I aware that any such method as that'which I shall .presently describev has been used for applying the electrical current in surgical operations.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspeciiicationFigure 6 represents the extensor used in dental operations. Fig. 7 represents the conductor used in dental operation, and Fig. 8 -represents a View of the regulating-rod of the lectrical machine.

At Fig. 1, A repre ents an electrical machine.

At Fig. 6 is represented the extensor used in dental operations, which consists of a small wire (represented/ by the red line a) wound with thread yor silk, and'connected at one end'to a coupling-hook, b, to which is attached, when the extensor is used, one of the wires of the battery, and at the other end to a thread, c, which is intended to pass or be wound several times around the tooth to be operated upon.

At Fig. 7 is represented the conductor, to be used in dental operations where the extensor cannot be applied.

@represents a conducting-wire, which has formed at one end an eye, '1), whereby it may be connected to one of the wires of the .battery, and which is at the other end fastened to a small piece of sponge, c. Thewire a is completelyv epcircled during its whole length by anv india-rubber or insulating tube, d'. f

In all dent-al operations except extraction the' extensor seen( at Fig. 6 is hooked into one Vof the wires from ,the battery, and its loop or thread hooked or wound around the tooth of the patient, while he holds in bothhands a metallic rod connected to the other wire of the battery. In dental operations, as in surgical,

the proper force of current is first determined by the operator by the insertion of the scalerod, as already explained. The thread or loop of the extensor. isthoroughly wet-ted before being applied to the tooth.

In cases of extraction, or where the extensor cannot be put on, the conductor (seen at Fig. 7) is attached to one of the wires of the battery, (the other wire being coupled to the rod in the patientshandg its sponge having been thoroughly wetted, and is` held by the operator against the gum of the tooth to be extracted.

The general principle of operation and e'ect of the current in dental operations is already understood, and need not here be explained.

It will be lobserved that by my method of applying electricity as an aniesthetic agent in dental operations no metallic conductors come into contact with the part to be operated upon, which I have found by long practice and series of experiments to be of the greatest importance.

.I am aware that electricity has been applied as an anaesthetic agent in dental operations,

and do not broadly claim'the application of such an agent but What I do claim as of my in-ven tion, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The employment, in producing local anaesthesia in dental operations, of an apparatus in which only non-m etallic conductors are brought intocontact with the parts being operated upon, as hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 22d day of February, 1859.

WM. G. OLIVER.

Witnesses: v

JOHN L. PRIME, DAN. G. FOSTER, HARRY SMITH. 

